Published: January 22, 1987

And now, in the countdown to Super Bowl XXI, he is ending his 18th season with the Broncos by devising ways to halt Phil Simms and the Giants' offense.

Collier, 54 years old, is Denver's defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. He also is a link to the old American Football League, when defenses were geared to stop the bomb-throwers.

It used to be so simple, Collier said today. Teams now are deploying defensive specialists for the pass or the run, for second-and-short or third-and-long.

''I don't like to go with all that,'' he said. ''Go with 11 guys who like to play football.''

But, he said, he has reluctantly gone to situation-substitution.

''When I joined the Broncos in 1969, the quarterbacks were pretty good,'' he said. ''But the offensive schemes are different now. They spread things out more with different lineups. You know, we were the last team to adopt the nickel.''

That doesn't seem to have affected Collier or his Broncos, whose defense still tends to overshadow the offense.

With John Elway's coming to the Broncos, that is changing a bit. Still, the Broncos' defense is the only one this season that prevented the Giants' offense from scoring a touchdown.

In the Giants' 19-16 victory last Nov. 23 at Giants Stadium, New York recorded only 14 first downs. The Giants gained only 262 net yards, and Simms could produce only 119 yards passing by completing 11 of 20 attempts. He was sacked three times. Joe Morris, with some late running, picked up 106 yards on 23 carries.

But Collier regards the Giants now with more respect than he did when he prepared the Broncos' defense back in November.

''The Giants balance out better now between the run and the pass,'' he said. ''They've got Lionel Manuel in now, and Phil Simms has made many more big plays since the time we faced them.''

Rubin Carter, the Broncos' nose tackle, said: ''Joe Collier has the ability to come up with defensive game plans and utilize them against a Morris and Simms.''

''Our schemes against the Giants were to be more aggressive,'' Carter said of their first game. ''We got into the backfield, and we stopped Morris from running at the 45-degree angle that he likes.''

Collier has kept his job with the Broncos through five head coaches in a business that routinely sees new head coaches dismissing most or all of the previous assistants. Once upon a time, he was a head coach himself. Those were in the Buffalo Bills' formative years, two and a half seasons in the 1960's, when he was a screamer on losing teams.

He says that when he joined the Broncos under Lou Saban in 1969, ''No one was giving me the opportunity in the N.F.L. I wasn't fired up to be a head coach anymore.''

Now, so many years have gone by, he said, and the game has changed so much, he is not interested in the job.

''To be the head coach in the N.F.L. now you're not a coach. You're a drug counselor, you're a media guy. I'm an X's and O's guy.''

That enabled him to survive Saban's dismissal, although, modestly, he offers other reasons.

For example, after Saban was let go midway in the 1971 season, he said, ''Jerry Smith became the interim coach. He had no choice. He had to keep me.''

John Ralston became head coach the next season, and Collier said: ''He was an offensive coach. He left the defense to me.''

Red Miller took over in 1977, and Collier said: ''Red Miller and I had worked together. He knew me.''

Finally, Dan Reeves became head coach in 1981. And Reeves was an offensive-type. So Collier remained again.

His defenses have been marked by intelligence and quickness and complications.

''We don't like to use rookies for linebackers,'' he said. ''We like 'em in their third or fourth years.'' He also expects his players to be able to handle the wide array of formations.

He is able to scheme so well because he seeks players that are more intelligent than the average - and also quicker. Rulon Jones, the 6-foot-6-inch, 260-pound defensive end, recorded 13 1/2 sacks this season. On some teams, he would be somewhat underweight for an end.